(The Center Square - It will be at least nine more years before Sound Transit launches light rail service in West Seattle. 

Sound Transit has pushed back the expected launch date for its West Seattle Link Extension light rail line by three years, from 2032 to 2035. 

Back in 2016, when voters approved a $53 billion-plus bond issue to be paid back through higher taxes and auto registration fees, the line was promised to be running by 2030.

A revised transit plan in 2021 pushed the line back to 2032. 

That date held firm as the Sound Transit Board approved a new plan in May to address a $35 billion budget shortfall. 

While a planned line to Ballard was put on hold at that meeting, officials said the West Seattle link was alive and would open in 2032, though the line was reduced from four stations to three to save money. 

That all changed at a Sound Transit system expansion meeting on Aug. 14.

Acting Chief Capital Delivery Officer Brad Owen announced the revised schedule, pointing to a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall and delayed design work as key factors.

"This is difficult news to share," Owen stated, explaining that staff had to halt final design and land acquisition phases while the board addressed the $35 billion long-range financial gap. 

That process culminated in the updated transit system plan, adopted in May, which gave the go-ahead for the West Seattle line. 

At the same Aug. 14 meeting, the expansion committee took some concrete steps forward by approving a $765 million funding measure for the West Seattle line.

The package earmarks $465 million to purchase 55 real estate parcels along the route and allocates $300 million for ongoing construction support. 

The full board is scheduled to vote on the measure on Aug. 27.

Still, transit advocates are crying foul about the delay.

One advocate, Trevor Reed, questioned why the revised 2035 date for the West Seattle line was disclosed only after the May board vote.

He noted on Bluesky that the previous urgency to approve the plan to protect delivery dates appeared misplaced given the underlying schedule realities.

“The 2032 date being a fiction was knowable from publicly available materials,” he said. "It is not credible this was unknown internally - why was it not disclosed before the May vote?

Sound Transit spokeswoman Amy Enbysk, in an email to The Center Square, repeated Owen's statements about the additional three-year delay but did not explain why the delay wasn't revealed in May.